I have better things to do than go shopping. That’s why I take particular pleasure on Black Friday every year when my friend and I drive right on past the outlet mall in Gilroy on our way to some good birding.
In Northern California, we are blessed with an abundance of great birding day trips. It’s something that I do not take for granted, and it seems very appropriate that we head to some of those places at the time of year that we give thanks.
You don’t have to go to the mall to see someone strolling around and showing off their cool red leggings — andy field with a Ferruginous Hawk will do. It was running after prey, probably ground squirrels.
Just south of Hollister, we headed down John Smith Road, leaving the ever-expanding developments behind and heading down the road past the dump. Just a couple of miles down the road, we saw our first Ferruginous Hawk of the day, always a sign of good things to come.
Doesn’t it just look like raptors would want to be here? (@ the intersection with Santa Ana Valley Road)
John Smith ends at Santa Ana Valley Road; the intersection has always been a great spot for seeing raptors, at least in the winter. There’s a large field that goes to the base of the hills; it’s freshly turned this time of year, so the zillions of ground squirrels can’t hide so easily. The raptors know good hunting when they see it.
Bald Eagles seem to be more recent visitors to the fields at the intersection. I remember a whole group of cars coming to a halt for one about ten years ago. Last year there was one, pirating from a Golden. this year we saw three — two adults and a juvenile. (One adult is hunting while these two watch.)
The landscape was dry and golden, but you could see that last winter’s rains had really helped. The trees looked healthy, there was a lot of dried grass on the hills (vs. trampled grey stubble) and some of the creeks still had water. There were a lot more of the grassland birds like meadowlarks, who had been in short supply in recent years. Nature does a good job at bouncing back, given half a chance. (It would be great if we could give it a full chance more often.
Quien Sabe is the road, not the response to an ID question — this a Golden Eagle, no question.
We did our usual loop through the area, heading over a ridge toward the San Benito Cattle Company, then backtracking out to Tres Pines via Quien Sabe Road. That’s where we had our biggest surprise of the day by far. A couple of miles beyond the eagle above, we rounded a bend and saw yet more large soaring birds. TVs. Actually, let’s take a look, they could be eagles…. WHOA!! Two condors!! Quien Sabe Road is about 25 miles north of Pinnacles National Park. We knew that the condors had been ranging farther but that was still a completely unexpected sighting.
That bird shape above the scrubby tree is a condor. I could’ve got a much better photo when we first saw them — they were much closer. But we did the proper thing and stared at them, awestruck, savoring the moment. Then thought, oh, maybe we should get a photo.
We were out again the next day, this time meeting up with a friend who was home for the holidays from her academic job in a very cold, very inland, very red state. The goal was to get out in the mild weather and hit some coastal areas. What better place to visit than Point Reyes?
Raven chowing down on some picked over rodent guts. Were I given a choice between that and holiday shopping, it would be a tough call.
Our first stop was at Drake’s Estero, a former oyster farm now restored as a coastal estuary. It’s an important migratory stop, and wintering grounds for a number of species. When Point Reyes National Seashore was created, agreements were made with the residents of some communities, ranch owners and the oyster farm — they could stay on the land for a certain number of years, leasing it from the park. After a certain number of years, the lease would be up and they’d have to move, and the park would take possession.
Least Sandpipers hanging out at the edge of Drake’s Estero. The substrate they’re standing on is decades worth of oyster shells, long farmed right there.
The oyster farm changed hands a few years before the lease was up. The buyer knew that the lease was ending soon, but they gambled they could get the lease extended. It wasn’t an unreasonable bet — it was the early years of the previous administration, who seemed quite open to opening up public lands to private businesses. There was a huge astroturf campaign in West Marin to save “our” oyster company. Thankfully, they lost their cases and the estuary is now for there for the birds and other wildlife.
Say’s Phoebe lets us know that even though we’re at the coast, there are grasslands nearby.
Flocks of ducks were scattered on the water, and shorebirds and pelicans roosted on a thin ribbon of shore ringing the estuary during the high tide. Soaring above the opposite shore, we could see a young Bald Eagle soaring (are those things following us?) A Great Blue Heron picked at its food at the edge of the parking area.
If you’re at Point Reyes and you see a sparrow, the chances are pretty good that it’s a Savannah...
Our friend got a healthy dose of shorebirds and waterfowl, so we continued our drive out the point. It was a beautiful day, if a tad windy. We were seeing gorgeous redtails on many fenceposts (our friend is another raptor-phile) and a good number of kestrels… always good to see them. As with the day before, we saw lots of evidence of post-rain rebound in the landscape.
… but if you see a sparrow-ish non-sparrow, it’s likely an American Pipit.
There are still a few working dairy ranches out there, which are allowed to stay as “historical” use. This isn’t without conflict. The dairies are pretty well run, but they still cause water quality problems with runoff and there are issues centered on water use, the native elk, etc. Some would like to see them gone, some would like to see stricter regulation; others are okay with things as they are. The ranchers have even talked about expanding to allow farm stays and other commercial uses.
How did my friend even spot the bird from 100 meters away?? Snipe, blending in like a snipe does.
While the controversies continue, the ranches can be good birding stops. We usually stop at B Ranch, the penultimate ranch before the lighthouse. There is a pond which can have some interesting ducks, and there are usually a few shorebirds. In a first for us, we had a Wilson’s Snipe hunkered on the northern edge of the pond.
Barn Owl snoozing away… tucked into the very densest part of the tree.
The treelines and windbreaks around the ranches are great places to look for raptors, especially owls. The Barn Owls roost in very dense parts of the trees; I’d guess it provides some safety from the many Great Horned Owls out there. I walked into one small grove for a look and a Barn Owl flushed from just a few feet over my head; I hadn’t seen it even though I was looking up. It quickly resettled into another dense clump. We spotted three of them in that little cluster of trees.
From the road to Chimney Rock, a view of the Farallones. In between, a lot of seabirds.
We stopped at the lighthouse, then at went to Chimney Rock and the Elephant Seal overlook. Our inland visitor was craving more and different shorebirds and ducks, so we headed to Bolinas Lagoon, about 15 miles as the cormorant flies, but about a 40 minute drive from the Outer Point.
A two-fer, Black Phoebe and Belted Kingfisher just chillin’ at the edge of Bolinas Lagoon.
We took a walk through Pine Gulch, which can be a crazy hotspot during migration. It’s still pretty birdy in winter, and one of the trails goes along the edge of the lagoon and gives great opportunities to view water birds. As the tide was finally going out, birds were starting to forage the mudflats, so there was a lot more activity to view.
Even badly backlit — really just a silhouette — a Merlin is unmistakable.
While we were scanning, all of the gulls took to the air; that’s a good sign that an eagle is nearby and we soon spotted it circling. (I tell you, they were following us!) We watched as it made a pass at one bird (seemed to be a younger gull) who didn’t move; clearly sick or injured. It lined up and took another pass, and the bird stayed put. I started to put my scope on it to try to see what it was and maybe what was wrong with it. As I was sweeping it into place I heard my friends “Oh!” … oof. That was quick.
Lots of heat shimmer so not so sharp. It was looking like a pillow fight for a while.
We finally trudged back to the car and over the hill. It had been a fun day, and we had a lot to be thankful for — friendship, birds, beauty all around us. And not a single minute in a mall.
